A crime elsewhere but not here - defence

The main charge of bribery facing former Chief Justice Noel Arrigo could not stand because, according to Maltese law, one could not be bribed after doing somebody a favour, his defence lawyer insisted yesterday.

Such behaviour, Joseph Giglio argued before Mr Justice Giannino Caruana Demajo, would be a crime in some other European countries but not in Malta.

Dr Arrigo has admitted accepting €11,650 in connection with the reduction of a jail sentence but has been adamant all along that the judgment had been written before the money was given to him and that this did not influence him in any way.

He stands charged with accepting a bribe when he reduced the sentence of drug trafficker Mario Camilleri from 16 to 12 years in July 2002.

He is also pleading not guilty to trading in influence and revealing official secrets.

Dr Arrigo testified this week that his childhood friend, Anthony Grech Sant, had handed over an envelope containing money in the afternoon of the day the judgment had been delivered.

He testified that this had happened on July 5, 2002 in an office of a company he owned. They spoke about football for a while and then Mr Grech Sant dumped an envelope on his desk, telling him it contained €11,650.

Dr Arrigo said he did not chase Mr Grech Sant as he left the office because he was confused and "flabbergasted", adding he had consistently refused any offer of money made previously.

He said he had passed the money on to a parish priest for it to be handed over to the police.

However, the prosecution has argued that this version was not credible, pointing out that Dr Arrigo took two Lm20 notes from the envelope to check whether they were counterfeit, so he could give them to charity. Had he given the money to charity, it would have amounted to money laundering, lawyer Anthony Barbara, chief prosecutor at the Attorney General's Office, held.

But Dr Giglio rebutted this point vigorously: "There is nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing that proves that before July 5, the day the judgment was handed down, Dr Arrigo had accepted the money." This meant, he added, that he could not be found guilty of the bribery charge.

All the people involved in the case, including another former judge, Patrick Vella, were jailed in connection with the case. Dr Vella, who admitted to accepting €23,000 in exchange for lowering Mr Camilleri's jail term, was jailed for two years in March 2007.

Concluding, Dr Giglio said he was confident the presiding judge would reach a verdict that was not influenced in any way by sentiment, passion or any other external factors.

Mr Justice Caruana Demajo yesterday retired to consider the evidence produced and is expected to return a verdict around the middle of next week.